TIF's...Good or Bad?

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Was not 100% sure what to Title this Topic...but thought it deserved it's own thread...I can see BOTH side of the argument...positive/negative. Without TIF's does Lafayette Street look like it does now??

Livingston Parish was able to land Bass Pro because of the special TIF District...and this also looks to be the only way Juban Crossing gets off the ground. Cabela's in Ascension Parish was lured this way too. River Park & possibly Costco are the others with incentives (TIF's)...IBM & Bayou Country Superfest enjoy some incentives as well...

While most local residents applaud plans by major companies like IBM and Costco to locate in Louisiana’s capital city, the use of tax dollars to lure them is raising some eyebrows.

Local and state government use a variety of economic incentives to attract such businesses. Some say the incentives are essential to compete with other states and cities; others question whether government subsidies and tax breaks for private businesses have gotten out of hand.

In recent years, Baton Rouge — along with many other cities across the state — has seen a rise in special taxing districts designed to spur economic development. One popular financing tool is the Tax Increment Financing district, known as a TIF, in which an entity takes out a loan to pay for construction, and uses sales tax rebates to pay down the loan.

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I'm on the fence with this issue. While I do like to see development happening quickly in our city, in the back of my head I know that about half of the companies that receive tax breaks are getting over on the tax payers. I think it should predominately cater to restoration and historical projects as well as large commercial projects bringing more jobs to the region.

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Thank yall for all of your replies...glad to see this Topic was not made in vain. I don't think Juban Crossing should qualify either...

It sure is tricky...the money lenders situation is not what it was. I enjoy seeing projects like the Hilton Capitol House & the Renaissance hotel finally comeback to life! But it is a shame to think w/o all of these incentives; these once embarrassing blighted eye-sores that stood there for far too long might still remain....& probably no Bass Pro either. Now these TIF districts seemed to have gotten out of hand as of late.

Here is another...I could have posted this in the Mid City thread....

Developer Seeks Tax Credits for Mid City Arts Community

Danny McGlynn's plan for an artists' workspace and living community in Mid City was dealt another blow recently when the Treasury Department did not award any New Market Tax Credits to the East Baton Rouge Redevelopment Authority. "Everyone was blown away when the RDA didn't get any," McGlynn says, "because we were pretty much a shoe in." In 2012 he secured $8.1 million in tax credits from the RDA to develop the Circa 1857 artists community but had to forfeit them in November because he was unable to meet a deadline to use the allocation. Though Baton Rouge-based Stonehenge Community Development was awarded $40 million in NMTC this year, McGlynn says his project doesn't qualify for them. "The allocations come in two forms: real estate development and operations funds, and what they got is for operations funds, which cannot be applied to business expansions," he explains. The plan for the artists community calls for expanding the current Circa 1857 complex at Government and South 19th streets into a mixed-use development comprising about 30 apartments—at least half of which would be rent-restricted—as well as studio space and about 7,000 square feet of retail space. McGlynn says the project is not feasible without the assistance of the tax credits. "Now that we do not have and cannot expect to get tax financing from the RDA this year, we have to go out and find another source of tax credits," he says, adding that it's possible an out-of-state agency could provide the credits and he's exploring that option. "We're scratching. We're going to find it." —Steve Sanoski

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Here is more of what we have been talking about...so EBR votes "yes" for Costco? Or they would end up in Ascension or Livingston? And a additional development at Bass Pro now; the Shoppes at Riverside Landing....

The tiff over TIFs....To taxpayers grown wary of corporate subsidies, developers say they're the only way to make some projects affordable

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Same TIF set up at the other hotels that recently opened..... can put this in the new hotels thread when/if it become "official".........with this new development(12-stories/146 rooms) & proposed Holiday Express nearby this should get Downtowns 1,000 room magic number....this should saturate the market for quite some time....

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Same TIF set up at the other hotels that recently opened..... can put this in the new hotels thread when/if it become "official".........with this new development(12-stories/146 rooms) & proposed Holiday Express nearby this should get Downtowns 1,000 room magic number....this should saturate the market for quite some time....